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[THE WEEKENDER] Cloud Gate trilogy brings Chinese characters to life

By Diane Baker
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Sep 07, 2009, Page 13

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Cloud Gate Dance Theatre (ë…éTÎ輯) opened its three-week run at National Theater last Wednesday with a masterful performance of artistic director Lin Hwai-min¡¯s (ÁÖ‘ÑÃñ) Cursive (ÐвÝ). Seeing the piece again was like being reunited with an old friend.

Stage and lighting designer Lin Keh-hua¡¯s (ÁÖ¿ËÈA) use of moving black backdrops and white screens and projections of parts of calligraphic masterpieces was stunning, yet this always served to keep the audience¡¯s eyes focused on the dancers. The sole exception to this was the one segment went a black-and-white scroll is projected onto the stage, creating a giant black box in which only glimpses could be caught of the almost-nude male dancers. But it was this segment that most created the illusion of the Chinese characters coming to life. It felt almost like the scene in the Nutcracker when all the toys start to move on their own.

Cursive gives the company¡¯s dancers full rein to show off their incomparable control and articulation. In several segments, the black-clad dancers were centered on white scroll-shaped blocks of light, gracefully folding down to the floor before jumping up and then folding down again. It brought to mind droplets of ink, each one springing to life for a few brief seconds.

All of the dancers were wonderful, but once again it was Tsai Ming-yuan (²Ìã‘Ôª) who was especially memorable with his quicksilver movements.

Cursive II (ÐвÝÙE) opens on Wednesday and Wild Cursive (¿ñ²Ý) begins on Sept. 16.

Cloud Gate alumnus Bulareyaung Pagarlava (²¼À­Èð“P) has developed a well-deserved reputation for choreographing works that pack an emotional wallop. On Saturday afternoon at the Wenshan Branch of the Taipei Cultural Center, he showed his lighter side with three short works for the company he founded two years ago with his partner, former Martha Graham and Cloud Gate principal dancer Sheu Fang-yi (�?y), LaFa & Artists.

On the program were Ode to Joy, Chapter I, which premiered in Macau in June, Lament, which premiered on Friday night, and Summer Fantasia, a version of which premiered at Jacob¡¯s Pillow in Massachusetts in July. It was a much bigger LaFa company, featuring Sheu and nine young men. Seven were newcomers, plus gymnast-turned-dancer Huang Ming-cheung (üSÃ÷Õý), who made such an impression in the company¡¯s 2008 debut, and Chiang Pao-shu (½­±£˜ä), who was featured in the documentary of the company, Dancing With 37 Arts (37ARTS ÎèÕß¼oÊÂ).

Ode to Joy, Chapter I begins with the rousing chorus from Beethoven¡¯s Ninth Symphony before segueing into a lovely song by Spaniard Jaume Sisa. Eight men, dressed like schoolboys in black socks, black shorts and white polo shirts, move through a hip-rocking drill, while Sheu sits, legs outspread, to one side like a broken doll.

That doll image proved to be correct, for after all the men but Li Tsung-hsuen (Àî×ÚÜŽ) exit the stage, he began to play with Sheu like she was a Barbie with flexible joints, posing her this way and that until he finally tires of the game and leaves. At this point the rest of the men return and begin to play with Sheu. Eventually they dress her in a black wrap-around skirt and a white shirt like theirs and she joins in the rollicking reprise of the opening chorus. It¡¯s a tribute to Sheu¡¯s strength of personality that even when she is portraying a mannequin, you can¡¯t take your eyes off of her.

The mood turned serious with the next piece, Lament, which opened with a film clip of Martha Graham performing her famous solo Lamentation. Set to the music of Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss, Lament is a beautiful, elegant work that is moving, but not too somber, filled with lots of lovely lifts and a wonderful duet for Sheu and Li. As with their duet in the first piece, Li proved he could more than hold his own with Sheu.

Summer Fantasia appeared to be simply a collection of scenes, funny though it was. It began with Huang proving his acting abilities as he used a blue-and-white striped beach towel as a prop to be a swimmer, a surfer, a catwalk model and even a mermaid. As a fish-tailed Huang wiggles off, Sheu, wearing trainers and a sports bra, jogs on, watched by three men, clad in brightly colored shirts and black pants. Sheu next returns clad in a loose yellow sundress to play at being a femme fatale for her male harem, before they all strip down to bathing suits. The music ranges from a Maria Callas aria to Dean Martin and the piece ends with a dance party reminiscent of the Beach Blanket Bingo films of the early 1960s.

Summer Fantasia left the audience in a good mood, but it was the haunting Lament that I would most like to see again.

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